CDOT eyeing more remote avalanche control by reloading gas exploders on I-70

The Colorado Department of Transportation is eyeing more remote avalanche control by reloading the exploding eggs on Interstate 70.

You've likely seen the eggs sitting on the side of the road near the Eisenhower-Johnson tunnel along I-70. 

The odd, egg-shaped objects with little solar panels and an orange top, with a little pole sticking out the end. If you're in the know, you know that they're used for avalanche mitigation in the winter months. If you don't, well, now you do.

CDOT used a helicopter Friday to latch on and bring those wonderful farting eggs that keep I-70 clear to their resting spots along the mountainside.

The O'bellx gas exploders are not new as Colorado used them for the last 4 years. But those last 4 years have been a far more comfortable experience compared to the previous years using spare artillery rounds from the U.S. military and a howitzer to launch them at a mountainside and hope to cause a slide. That's cold, time and crew intensive, while also needing light for direction in aiming.

"Doing avalanche control in a pickup truck without gloves on is pretty nice," Jamie Yount, Winter operations manager for CDOT explained. 

The gas exploders are just 1 of the 5 options available to CDOT for remote avalanche mitigation, and Yount said each one comes with its own strengths and weaknesses.     

They're now looking at which will work best for places in the southern Colorado mountain range, as soon as the I-70 corridor is completed. There is still one more spot CDOT needs the howitzer for to turn into a remote unit. 

"That will be a big, expensive, time-consuming event, expanding south," Yount said. "We're talking years down the line."